Linux.com: Dual Boot Linux

WEBINAR:On-Demand

"Linux has been a "buzzword" in the computing world for quite a
while now. Most people who are fairly computer savvy and follow the
computer industry at all have at the very least heard of Linux.
Many people, however, are limited to only having one computer at
their disposal. This makes trying out a new operating system, such
as Linux, a challenging task. Linux, however, goes to great lengths
to minimize the challenge of running more than one operating system
on your computer. Most Linux distributions ship with a number
of utilities to assist you in installing Linux as a second
operating system on your computer, without having to reload your
original operating system."

"First, let's cover some basic concepts. The hard drive is
essentially a mass of free space divided into sections, known as
partitions. To users of DOS and Windows, these partitions are seen
as C: and D:. To users of Linux, they are known as /dev/hda1 and
/dev/hda2. The purpose of a partition is to mark drive boundaries,
allowing several different operating systems to share a single hard
drive (potentially using different formats for organizing files,
known as "filesystems," on each partition). Your computer probably
came to you with a few partitions formatted with the FAT or FAT32
filesystems which contained Windows. The trick now is to move those
partitions out of the way to make room for Linux, while not
damaging any data contained in those partitions. That's where a
tool called FIPS comes in."

"FIPS is a utility that is included with many Linux
distributions, and helps in installing Linux as a second operating
system. FIPS is a program capable of "resizing" an existing Windows
partition to allow you to free up unused space. "Resizing" your
existing Windows partition can then provide you the necessary disk
space to install Linux, without having to purchase and install a
second hard drive for your computer. (It should be noted, however,
that using a second drive is the ideal way to dual boot, if you
have another one lying around somewhere). Before using FIPS, you
must defragment your Windows partition to move all of the data to
the "front" of the disk. You can then safely free up any unused
space. (WARNING: Using FIPS can cause a loss of data, so backing up
your system is STRONGLY recommended.) FIPS can be obtained from
http://metalab.unc.edu/pub/Linux/system/install, and comes with a
README file providing a good example of using it. Now that you have
sufficient "free" disk space, you are able to proceed with
installing Linux on the same hard drive that holds your Windows
installation. Once again, this utility can cause a loss of data,
and thus could require that you completely reload your system, so
proceed with caution."